As the following figures attest, China is fast becoming a renewable supermarket and superpower. The country is on track to achieve the world's most ambitious renewable energy targets. By doing so, it will reduce the demand for destructive coal and hydropower projects at home, and set a model for other countries.
Targets under China's Renewable Energy Law for 2020: 75 MW of small hydro, 30 GW of wind, 30 GW of biomass, 2 GW of solar
Total target for all renewables: 137 GW, or 15% of the county's total power capacity
Expected cost of this expansion: $270 billion
Exploitable wind power potential: >500 GW onshore, 750 GW offshore
Exploitable hydropower potential: 379 GW
Total installed wind power in China as of 2008: 12.2 GW
Percent increase in wind power generation in China in 2008: 100
Solar water heating capacity, 2007: 84 GW thermal (67% of world total)
Capacity of solar cells produced in China (mainly for export), 2008: 3,300 MW (48% of world total)
Percent that renewable energy and environmental protection contribute to China's Gross Domestic Product (2008): 5
Target for 2015: 10% of GDP
Number of people employed in these fields in China: 25 million
